Twerking, with pleasure, my dear, but with a social distancing face shield, please. Like the drag queen Gia Gunn, designers are inspired by this protective accessory, an alternative to the conventional fashion mask.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Lady Gaga's visor-shaped headpiece had already caught the attention of her fans, early April (more info in this article here). So, when the drag queen Gia Gunn enjoyed some twerk, wearing a face shield, it became clear that this accessory of social distancing, alternative to the fashion mask, was ready to impose itself in these times of Coronavirus.

In fact, during her photo shoot for InStyle magazine, Lady Gaga wore an accessory from the Indonesian designer Rinaldy Yunardi, the same one who had signed a visor and a headband for the futuristic extravaganza music video of the singer Stupid Love, released last February.

But other designers have been inspired by face shields, which have the advantage of not hiding facial features. Thus, Joe Doucet imagined “a shield with integrated sunglass lenses and arms that make them more practical and feel less alien and intrusive on the wearer than a typical face shield would”, he explains on his Instagram account.

“What if using facial protection no longer means losing individuality, may it help users to express themselves like a fashion item does?”, questions Taiwanese artist Yi Fei Chen, who revealed on her Instagram account her personal reinterpretation of medical protection equipment.

From the collective project Byom (Bring your own mask), initiated by the Swiss design agency Hyperaktiv (more info in this article), the Inflatable Face Shield by designer Ulysse Martel is created from a 3D scan of the wearer's head, which "means that each product can be fully customised and taylor-made", he notes on his Instagram account.

Still within the Byom project, the decorative wall mask Karl by designer Jeremy Deruaz and the design studio Søren Henrichsen “turns into a protective mask” that “gives good humor to the protective screens, useful equipment, but not very user-friendly”, can one read on their respective Instagram accounts.

The Virage design studio has also started with a decorative mask to create its Visages 2020 mask, using the same rhodoid as that of medical face shields.

Visages 2020 by Studio Virage for Hyperaktiv Byom project (© Studio Virage)

Finally, on the web, numerous face shields proposals are available, such as an irisdescent mask from the brand Noli Yoga, a face shield bucket hat by Shein or even a super cute Japanese mask covering only the bare minimum of the face.